Stitching Stories with Hanna

Hanna Dunphy - Founder & Creative Director of Hanna Dunphy

Hanna Dunphy specializes in creating "sustainably slow-made clothing" by repurposing vintage garments into unique, eco-friendly pieces.

Now more than ever, everyone is searching for ways to connect on a personal level. When it comes to a business owner and client interaction, there is the added challenge of making a lasting impression and giving the consumer a reason to spend their hard earned money. In a wasteful world driven by consumerism, we often find ourselves seeking out meaningful ways to make purchases that really resonate and stand the test of time.

As unimportant or trendy as it may seem, personalization is truly bridging the gap between buying just another item, and investing in something that has a deeper meaning. Hanna Dunphy has it all figured out and is leading the way for sustainability and mindfulness when it comes to shopping for personalization in our city. 

Hanna owns and operates Hanna Dunphy, a custom embroidery studio specializing in personalized goods and in-person designer shopping events. With a lifelong passion for art and creativity, she has found her business evolving over the years from vinyl printing, to embroidery all the while keeping the personalization element to her work.

Despite her expertise and excitement for her work, Hanna did not always know that business ownership and embroidery specifically were the right fit for her. Many ebbs and flows have brought her to the place she is in today and she continues to keep an open mind when it comes to her ever changing business and where it could lead.

After earning a degree in early childhood education, Hanna realized that her true calling was to be true to her creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. She shared stories about her childhood saying, “I remember my friends and I were always making friendship bracelets and stuff and I would always take it to the next level like ‘how can we sell these?’ I was always so drawn to that and it’s always been naturally built into me.”

Hanna's approach proves her commitment to environmental responsibility in the fashion world.

Even now that she has been in business since 2018, Hanna still describes her entrepreneurial journey as fluid, saying that it is constantly evolving with her interest and those of her customers. During her time at Kent State studying fine arts, she began selling stickers she designed on Etsy. She remembers feeling encouraged and inspired by the idea of people enjoying her art and said, “Anytime I got a sale it was addicting. I thought it was so cool and then there was this element of connecting with people who were really just intrigued by my art.”

Shortly after her online business saw some success, shoppers began requesting that Hanna turn her floral and skeletal designs into tattoo patterns for them. People from all over the world began messaging her on Instagram to ask for tattoo designs and she began deepening her customer connections even further by creating art that would live on someone's body forever.

From there, she began experimenting with a family member's Cricut machine and her gift for creating custom apparel was born. Beginning with some of her sticker and tattoo designs, she began sharing her work on t-shirts for people to wear and really felt that her work was starting to see the light of day. She told us, “People were really interested and it was really cool to see my art had a purpose now because it is getting out there to other people instead of just sitting in my sketchbooks in my closet doing nothing.”

Finally, Hanna took a chance vending at a local market and quickly found herself making acid wash, tie dye, and cricut creations. After selling out at the event, she knew she was onto something and took all of her past knowledge and experiences to fuel her creativity and propel her business forward. Wanting to set herself apart from other Cleveland apparel designers, she focused on sewing and patchwork styles and began using thrifted pieces to create one of a kind merchandise for her customer base.

Upcycling, sustainability, and uniqueness have all become pillars of Hanna’s work and signature style. Now with her embroidery, she sets out to create custom pieces that reflect a person's interests, personal style, and life story. She is so dedicated to creating beyond the surface level and making memorable and meaningful art with her designs.

Some of Hanna's embroidered items with city names including Cleveland and Boston.

She began with hand embroidery and eventually, ended up utilizing her local library's free machine to begin experimenting with professional embroidery. Eventually she upgraded to owning her own machine, and then another, before snowballing into an entire storefront space with multiple machines. She told us that this was the moment it really sank in that she was taking on a new angle to her business and was truly committing to this form of creation. “I think that was the biggest thing and the moment where I was like ‘I am truly trusting myself and taking myself seriously’ because this is an extreme investment and I have gotten myself this far,” she said.

Now, she is setting out to curate a full experience for customers where they can choose items or bring in items of value to be customized with whatever is meaningful to them. Hanna said, “I just immediately fell in love with the way embroidery looks on pieces. It is so much more durable and gives an elevated element and personal touch. Adding personalization to things is one of the biggest things I love doing. People come to me and their grandfather writes ‘I love you’ and I can take that and put it on something for them and it’s permanent.”

Beyond the sentimental and custom value of Hanna’s work, there is an added element of accessibility. It remains important to her to ensure that her embroidery services can benefit everyone who is interested in them, not just large groups or businesses. By having no item minimums, reasonable pricing, and open communication, Hanna can cater to all of her clients needs, including when it comes to small businesses who may not need large quantities or elaborate designs.

Hanna also hopes that her new space in Lakewood will help create deeper connections between her and her customers without the hassle that usually comes with customization. She told us, “A lot of times you have to get twenty of something or there are only four t-shirt colors to choose from. I want this to be an experience for people so we can create anything. You can come in and bring your own apparel or our own accessories and we can put personalized things on it for you. And there's no minimums and it isn’t going to take four months to get back to you.”

Events continue to remain a large part of Hanna’s business as well as custom orders. She has done pop-ups at many spots all across the city and has worked with other amazing woman owned brands such as Shore Society and Blair Ritchey. In addition to pop-ups she also continues to roll out her season sports upcycling apparel and vends at markets to get out in the community and connect with people outside of the internet.

Hanna recently purchased a space in Lakewood and it will be opening in June 2025!

She is very open-minded when it comes to the direction of her business and her go-with-the-flow attitude is one of the things that has made her so successful over the years. Hanna said, “It’s never ending trial and error. Even if you’ve been in business for twenty five years, you’re still experimenting with what is going to work and what is not going to work. I spent the last year just saying yes to every market and pop-up figuring out the areas that worked for me.”

Her flexibility and dedication to creating something special comes in handy with the other challenges she faces in her personal life as well, mainly when it comes to balancing motherhood. She told us, “I feel like the challenges I’ve encountered have had less to do with being a woman and more to do with being a mother. The hardest challenge is having people question what I am trying to achieve. I have always gotten the toughest love when it comes to the ideas I have had. People can’t always see what I see. There are questions like ‘How are you going to do this with a child?’ ‘Are you sure about this?’ But it does help put it into perspective.”

Receiving unconditional support from not just friends and family but from other entrepreneurs and working women has helped her overcome these fears and erase the doubt for herself and others. Encouragement and faith in herself and her abilities has really driven Hanna to overcome the obstacles and balance the responsibilities that come along with being both a business owner and mother to a toddler, with another baby soon to come.

Additionally, Hanna told us about her struggles with the separation of work and life. Having worked out of her home for many years, she found it difficult to separate the business and work life from her personal home life. Sharing it all in the same space, similar to many people who work from home, she found herself unable to switch off the work brain, even when she wanted to most. “My mind was chaotic all the time. I need to be able to lock the door at the end of the night and drive home and have a safe space where my brian isn’t on fire because I am surrounded by boxes and machines and this and that.”

Now that her dream of a formal workspace has become a reality, she can finally achieve that work-life balance she has been seeking and the weight on her shoulders has lifted. Her focus isn’t split and she can go back to having the best of both worlds with space for her family and home as well as her business and creativity. She truly feels that it is all falling into place at the right time saying, “I feel like a crazy person for doing this all at once, but there is never a right time to do anything. You just have to do it and trust that it’s all going to work out. You have to be a little crazy.”

Customized pieces may be ordered, such as this adorable pillow featuring two fur babies.

Surprisingly, Hanna describes herself as a very introverted person who also finds joy in being around others. She mentioned that on slow days, she can feel robotic when creating pieces in bulk and repeating tasks over and over again but says that getting out into the community and connecting with the people of our city is the most rewarding part of her work.

“The relationships that I have been able to make and the connections I have been able to sustain from the very beginning of my business makes me feel like all of this has a much deeper purpose than just consumerism. We live in such a fast consumer based society where people just want goods and I never wanted to just sell things to people. So my whole thing behind this business was how can I take things that are already so personal and recycle those emotions out of old pieces and back into new ones,” Hanna said.

Even when the pieces she is working on don’t have sentimental value, the experience and activation behind her presence at an event or storefront gives a human element to the creation of the item. Instead of buying another thing off the shelf, customers can speak with Hanna, make customization decisions with her, and have real interactions with the real person who is making their desires a reality.

Her work brings the style and self-expressions of others to life and Hanna takes such pride in her work. Whether it be meaningful heirlooms or apparel to help cheer on a local sports team, she sees the value in allowing consumers to control the end product they are receiving and be an active part of the process it takes to create them.

One of her most memorable interactions came unexpectedly at a shopping event she was participating in at a local boutique. A customer came in with her own item to embroider and took her time browsing and watching Hanna interact with others before approaching her and asking for the design she wanted. 

Washed, vintage jeans embroidered with red initials.

She told the story best saying, “I believe it was her dad’s old vintage browns sweatshirt and she was lingering around the store and watching for a while and when she finally came up to me she said ‘I was watching you because I have something very special to me and I had to feel like I believed in you first’. She just wanted dad in a heart on the wrist and for her and her mom it was such an emotional moment. It had nothing to do with the pop-up but it was one of the moments where I realized this really means stuff to people more than I could have ever imagined.”

Hanna radiates joy and positivity and giving off her energy really helps people to feel connected to her and trusting of her with their sentimental items. These interactions go beyond the financial transactions of making a sale and she is so in tune with the fact that her work means something and at the end of the day her art form and small scale creation of things can carry so much weight.

She went on to talk about a few other interactions with customers that have stood out to her over the years and mentioned that beyond personal stories and emotional pieces, she has also seen profound connection and meaning in the more business oriented designs people have ordered. 

As an example, Hanna told us about a client who simply wanted their small business logo on some apparel and that this straightforward design ended up being deeply meaningful. Although something as small as a logo seems that it wouldn't carry much significance, being able to promote your own business with pride in a way that feels professional, can be hugely impactful.

Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, what we wear or even display is a form of self expression that allows us to share the things we care about with those around us. Being able to see our loved ones handwriting on our sleeves, our businesses logo on a crewneck, or a symbol of our passions on a baseball hat gives us all the ability to literally and figuratively share the things we love with the rest of the world. This thoughtfulness even stems over into the world of gifting and how giving someone an item of significance can say so much about that care out into it. 

Whether you or a friend is expecting, order a customized blanket which makes the perfect gift.

We ended our chat by asking Hanna what she sees for the future of her studio and unsurprisingly, her natural instinct to see where things go on their own, was evident in her answer. Clearly, trusting her gut and being flexible has gotten her to a profoundly successful place so far and continuing to follow this way of thinking will only continue to benefit her and the business.

As for concrete goals, Hanna said, “I am just happy to have control over my own time. I have the freedom to do what I want to do because I am not held down by anyone else's rules. My only goal is to provide that flexibility to other people who can benefit from it too. I have one of my best friends who works for me and she is a mother of two and she needed that freedom to be able to be with her family at the drop of a hat and I am able to provide that to her.”

Hanna Dunphy is a force to be reckoned with and continues to shine with her creativity and innovation in our city. Whether it be at pop-ups or at her store front, she leads with compassion and connection, seeking to form meaningful relationships with all who step through the door and express interest in her work. Her desire to create and capture sentimental moments for others truly sets her apart as a designer and entrepreneur. Hanna is a free spirit, a creative force, and a thoughtful soul. We are honored to have not only spoken with her for the blog, but to have the privilege of featuring her as a guest experience at our fifth and final Summer Social this July. We can’t wait to collaborate with her and see what comes next for Hanna Dunphy as a studio!